Spring cleaning time is here, you guys! About twice per year I go on a mini organizing rampage, purging items from my closet and house in general. I love the feeling of getting stuff OUT of my house…

My closet clean out process is fairly straightforward. I start in the back of the rack and put on every piece. Number 1 question: “How does this make me look and feel?” If iffy on either front, it’s done. Buhbye. Into the white plastic bag you go!

From there, I have a two step process: 1) allow younger sister to dig through bag of clothing and commandeer what she wants, and 2) take remaining wearable items to The Salvation Army. It’s easy, fast, and gets the stuff out of my house.

Enter ThredUP.com

ThredUP is an online secondhand shop that accepts your items and resells them. You get a percentage of what they determine to be the “resale value” of items you send in as either store credit or a cash payout. The best part? THEY pay the shipping for you to send your items in! Just request a Clean Out Bag in the mail and place your items inside. Drop the bag off at any USPS or FedEx.

Now, I am not going to bother to send a giant bag stuffed with alllll my clean out items to thredUP. Because let’s face it, ain’t nobody wants to buy my worn out Old Navy pajama pants that cost $8. But those bridesmaid shoes I’m never gonna wear again? Heck yeah, you can have them, thredUP!

For my first ThredUP experiment I sent in a pair of heels and three dresses. I chose items out of my “donate” pile that had zero or minimal signs of wear. I did NOT select the option to have my items mailed back to me if rejected (for $13), because I was just going to donate the pieces anyway.

I dropped the bag in the mail and breathed a happy sigh that there was now less stuff in my house. Cue waiting for 3wks.

6:00am on a Tuesday, an email arrives: I got $21.21 for my items! Not bad – not exactly a mind blowing payout when you consider there were 3 dresses in there, but not bad for items I would normally just toss or donate, ya know? Now, two options: shop with the store credit or wait for cash…? Um, shop clearly.

Here’s what I purchased:

Ann Tayler LOFT yellow silk dress. Price $20.49. Cost of shipping: $5.99. Total cost [after payout applied]: $5.27 

The dress came out of the packaging looking fresh and ready to wear. I’m happy with the fit/ color (even though some people may maintain that blondes shouldn’t wear yellow). I’m stashing this beauty for a certain upcoming April wedding!

ThredUP Tips:

• Order a Free Clean Out Bag at a time when you are already planning to do a full sweep/re-organization of your closet.
• Send off a few nice/unfrayed items that you definitely don’t want anymore. Do not send things you are iffy about keeping.
• Practice healthy expectation management; don’t set yourself up for disappointment by expecting a huge payout for your items.
• Use your payout to shop! Try searching for favorite brands like J. Crew or Ann Taylor. New customers, use this Referral Link to get store credit for $10!

Happy Spring, friends! What are you in the mood to organize?